Mary Chesnut Civil War Diary Analysis

Mary Boykin Chesnut was a prominent member of the upper-class society in the South during the Civil War. She was married to James Chesnut, the general of the South Carolina reserves. Mary Chesnut is the author of her Civil War diary which details the society of Southerners during the war. She had access to a great deal of information through her husband, and she relays this information through her diary. Mary Chesnut’s diary gives insight into pivotal events during the war and details her own opinions about the Civil War. Throughout her diary, Mary Chesnut details the upper-class society in the South, documents the divisions between Southerners during the war, and questions many of the beliefs of Southerners. Mary Chesnut was a prominent member of the upper-class society in the South.

Chesnut then went on to say how the woman deserved this remark said to her. In the same excerpt from A Diary from Dixie, she said that Mrs. Davis was not fond of her husband becoming president of the war. It is believed that she felt this way because people were hard to please and especially hard to please during the Civil War. Chesnut’s relationship with Mrs. Davis gave insight into Mrs. Davis as a person, instead of a name connected to a man. It proves that Mrs. Davis was more than the wife of the Confederate president and that she was an important member of their upper-class society. Another notable member of society Mary Chesnut had a friendship with is the politician Clement Clay. She mentioned him, and the events occurring around him, in her diary. The most important time that Chesnut recorded Clay was when he heard the news that General Lee, the commander in charge of the Confederate army, had surrendered. “Just now, when Mr. Clay dashed upstairs, pale as a sheet, saying, ‘General Lee has capitulated,’ I saw it reflected in Mary Darby 's face